


Skinless

by Awsomekiller666



Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/M, Heavy Angst, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Nothing Hurts, True Love, Why Did I Write This?, dark ellis, everybody is sad, if you dont like violence please dont read, it'll make sense in the story, please no hating okay, sad nick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-01 04:22:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5192198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awsomekiller666/pseuds/Awsomekiller666
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the last remaining survivors get caught by unwanted company They are checked for any traces of the virus being in their blood. Most came out clean from infection... except one. Now they all have a extremely dangerous infected on their case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Agony

**Author's Note:**

> Hello... I decided to make another L4d2 + L4d fanfic so... here it is. First chapter.  
> Oh and my updating schedule is fridays through sundays. Unless I have a day off from school or work.

The pain, it was pure agony. I could feel it spreading throughout my body like a wild fire. The impact of the blow making me dizzy. Making me want to cover my head in hopes of protection but there was only one problem. I was tied up, my hands bound behind my back, feet tied up by chains connect to the hook on the floor. Like I was a dog.

Another blow, this time connecting with my shoulder. I could feel it snap. I groaned. I was too weak to even scream. The blows kept coming without mercy. My body felt battered, broken beyond repair but the pain was still there. Still poking my body relentlessly. Swallowing me in the abyss of pain.

I hear my friends scream my name, screaming for this man to stop but no avail. Through my blurred vision I see my lover squirm. I see him try to fight free of the men pining him down. Screaming my name in desperation, to let me know that he's there, there and feeling my pain. My friends, I see them crying. Their in the same state as my love.

"... Nick... " My voice, broken and low. Throat scratchy and raw barely able to make any sounds at all. Then there is another agonizing pain. This time sharp. At first I thought that it was pain from seeing my friend and lover in that state but as I look down I knew I was wrong. Blood was soaking through my shirt, I see a metal blade sticking out from chest... or more spesifically my heart. I try to breathe slowly but my attempts are useless. Im failing to stay strong for my friends, for my lover.

I fall to the side whezzing, but coughing up blood instead. I see black spots darkening my vision. I know its over so I muster up the strength to see my friends sad faces, to see my lover pinned down by three uniformened men, tears in his eyes. I smile at him, at all of them. I give them my best smile I could give with the last remaining strength I had. I took one last breath, looking upward at the ceiling, sleep finally took me.

"ELLIS!"


	2. Choices

I couldn’t believe it. They… they killed him. He’s dead, my… my lovers dead… lying there before me in the middle of this abandoned room. Laying there in a puddle of his own blood… his once bright blue eyes were now lifeless. His beautiful tan skin now a sickening pale. My heart hurt, hurt so much that I couldn’t contain the tears that were now falling on my cheeks. I couldn’t hold back the choked sob that slipped through my lips as I continued to stare at him. All cold and broken, his scrumptious body now battered and broken. They killed him without mercy, they just kept hitting him with that fucking bat!   
I lowered my head, letting another whine of a sob slip out. I felt eyes on me, I doubt they belonged to those damn men. I feel hands on my shoulders, on my whole body actually then I realise. Those men had pinned me down as their leader beat Ellis to a bloody corpse. They held me back from saving my love, I see Rochelle looking at me. She’s in the same state as I. Crying for a lost friend, comrade. She looks at me with the same hurt I assume she see’s in mine. But she can’t, she can’t feel the pain I feel because she never knew. Nobody knew about me and Ellis, we kept it secret and not because we were ashamed… but because we needed too. we needed to keep our relationship a secret because we just felt we had too, nobody needed to know. It was nobodies business. They would’ve just tried to make Ellis leave me but it’s no use hiding it now. I wouldn’t have a reason to mourn if I wasn’t hiding anything. I see realisation shine through Rochelles eyes but instead of disgust I see sadness, like she knew all along and now understood my pain of losing Ellis. She let’s out a choked sob, lowering her head as coach rubs her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.   
“So you have two choices...” The leader says.  
“... You can come with me and my men to our facility or… you can end up like your… friend here.” I cringed at that.   
“Choose wisely now.” I look over to Rochelle, Seeing her looking at coach for the answer. He looked at me and I looked at him. I already knew the answer, even if it was against my own decision and going against all my instincts I still knew that Coach and Rochelle were done fighting this war against the infected. Honestly I am too but… he was so close. So close to safety only for them to take that hope away from him without mercy. I turned to the man in charge, also the man who took my love away and said…  
“Fine… we’ll go with you to this… facility of yours.” The man seemed please with my answer. I knew I wasn’t though I had no choice. It was either go with them or get killed by them and Ellis wouldn’t want that.  
“Well good choice my friends. My name is Carl Carrington. ” The man, Carl looked at us as if he never did anything, as if there wasn’t a corpse next to him. the have to get the brain before Ellis wakes up again.  
“Let my men escort you all out oh and... ” I looked at him as two of his men came toward me and helped me up to my feet.  
“Welcome to camp Clark friends.” Was this guy serious?   
“You have to get the brain Carl, before he wakes back up.”   
“Oh don’t worry about your deceased friend Nick, my men will take care of it, Johnson and Quinn GO!” The two men rushed back the way we came.   
As I let the men walk with me, I soon could see a base. Gates high with guns attacked. Bodies lay next to the walls almost like a barrier protecting another barrier. More uniformed men walked above on the walls. Guarding the place.   
“It’s huge!” Dammit Rochelle.  
“Ah yes it is. Lots of people like you are in there. Living happy lives that they fought to have… some having to lose more than one person like you guys did.”   
“Why do you keep mentioning it!”   
“Well… I can mention anything I want. You have no authority over me mr.Erickson ” I growled under my breathe, now he knows my last name.  
“As I was saying...” but before Carl could say anything further Quinn came running back, fear etched all over his face.  
“Quinn what is it?”  
“T-The Bo-body… the body...the body...it...it’s go-gone!”My eyes widened.  
“What!”  
“It took Johnson with it. I don’t know where it is… it just killed Johnson with one blow and ran in the other direction… didnt even look at me.”  
“You...” Carl pointed at all his men.  
“Check the area, let every soldier know of this NOW!”  
“YES SIR” The men scattered around while Carl led us to the facility. The gates opening and closing as fast as anything.  
‘what have we done?’


	3. First meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet a long lost friend

1 week later…

After that little incident with Johnson disappearing, Carl never heard word of the mysterious infected being seen anywhere again so he accepted the little white lie of that infected being somewhere else, somewhere far from the facility. Little did he know how wrong he was in believing in that.

In Nick’s room…

‘UGH!!!!!!... can’t they keep it down? I’m trying to sleep over here!’ Nick thought angrily as he groaned from all the noise coming from outside.

“Nick, something’s wrong. There’s soldiers every where and the alarm is ringing.” Nick sat up quickly to notice that Rochelle was looking out the window.

“What are you doing in my room?”

“Nick...”

“Why are you in my room Rochelle?”

“You have the best view of the left gate okay, and I think something has entered from said gate so I had to see… now get your ass over here.” Nick groaned again as he got out of his bed, shuffling over to Rochelle and peeking out the window to see all the commotion outside.

“The hell is going on?!” Nick asked to no one in particular. He didn’t receive an answer and quite frankly, he wasn’t expecting one because nothing could explain why those soldiers were running around, barking orders and looking like roaches the way they were running around everywhere.

“Should we help?” Rochelle asked.

Nick looked at her, unsure of what to do. He could of course choose to go help those soldiers out with whatever the fuck was down there but then again, he didn’t exactly know what was down there and he didn’t feel like he wanted to find out according to his sixth sense. He didn’t want to go down there because there was a huge possibility of both him and Rochelle getting hurt, they don’t know what's down there and it must be pretty dangerous if it got all those soldiers running around like crazy.

“Nick?” Rochelle asked impatiently, she was definitely aware of the dangers that lurk down there but these people helped them. Gave them safety, shelter and food when these people could’ve just left them to scavenge for food like stray cat’s.

“Nick, I think we should help, I mean I know that it’s dangerous because of what’s down there but...”

“No!... we shouldn’t help Rochelle. we don’t know what’s down there. I’m not risking my life for people I don’t even know.” Nick cut her off with his own voice.

“Nick! They saved us, They could’ve just made us go back out there and we would’ve had to start from square one all over again… they gave us food and water and...”

“You’re forgetting the fact that they took Ellis from us!” Nick was furious now. Does she really think it’s worth it?

that’s just one Nick! They took one life when they could have just killed all of us from the start, it took one life to save six...“

“YOU WANT TO GO DOWN THERE FINE WITH ME!” Nick took a breather to calm down before continuing.

“You want to save those people and play hero then be my guest but if you end up dead that’s on you… do you think it’s really worth it Rochelle because I don’t.” Nick asked in a more calm voice, though one may hear the angry undertone.

“And DON’T ever say that to my face again!” Nick finished before walking back over to his bed and taking a seat.

Before Rochelle could reply though, Carl came into the room and shut the door. He started barricading the door with the furniture in the room.

“The fuck you doing?” Nick asked as Carl stepped back from the barricade and kneeled down on one knee before taking the gun from his back and started reloading.

“Hello!”

“Shhhh!... that thing is in the building.” Carl answered.

“You let and infected inside the building!” ‘Can’t this day get any worse!’ Nick thought.

“No it got itself in...” Carl replied as he shook his head.

“Aren’t these walls suppose to be strong enough to stop a tank from coming in?”

“Yeah but that’s the problem, this thing is stronger than the tank.”

 **J** ust then, they heard thundering footsteps coming from outside the door, the sounds got louder as it got closer to Nick’s door before stopping right in front of the door. Nick could see the shadow of something standing right there. they heard a growl before the door was busted open, the trio gasped at what stood before them.


	4. Cold Truth

Where am I?

Why am I running?

Who am I running from?

The problem is that I don’t know these answers and that’s what scares me about this whole situation. All I know is that i’m running and… I don’t have the slightest clue where i’m running off to.

Right now, i’m in what seems like an open area, it’s very green mixed with the night indigo of the sky. It seems that i’m in a forest and now i’m lost.’Great’ I thought to myself as I slowed to a walk. The area seemed to be filled with infected and oddly quiet… well with the exception of my footsteps. They seemed so loud, louder than usual, almost like thunder. What I found most bizarre is that the infected didn’t attack me, they just looked at me and ran in the other direction. Hell I stumbled upon a tank earlier and it just stared at me for what seemed like forever before running away from me like a dog saw a ghost and was running away from it with it’s tail in between it’s legs. I didn’t know what to do… how would you react if you’ve been fighting against infected for three years and all of a sudden they start RUNNING away from you like you’re the infected?... Wait a minute… am I… am I infected?... even if I was… why are they running from ME? Am i more… more than just infected or…

Then images flashed through my mind like a slide show. I fell on one knee to the ground, one hand on the ground one holding my chest as I tried to breathe as I saw what happened to me previously. Those men… my lover… my friends… I died? So I am infected… but that doesn’t explain why those other infected are running from me. Why are they doing that? Aren’t they suppose to… I don’t know… help me or something? i don’t want to hurt anybody… let alone kill anyone that’s fought so hard to be alive. ‘What am I going to do?’ Was my thought’s as the images still flashed before me. i got my breathing under control, shaking my head in an attempt to stop the onslaught of images of my death, of my lovers last expression before my human self died. ‘My human self...haha’ It’s funny but it’s true.

So now that i’m infected… what am I going to do? I can’t die unless someone kills me so maybe I can make someone kill me? Or fight a tank or anger a witch? No that won’t work, those bastards would just run away.

I continued down the road I was on, picking up my pace when I happened upon an old cabin. Maybe I can see what I look like or something. I walked up to the door and knocked, only scolding myself when I realised how pathetic that attempt was. I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t bust so I bumped my shoulder on it, the door opening easily. I step in, looking behind me to see that the door was hanging off it’s hinges ’opps’ I thought. I shrugged my shoulders before continuing to explore the house. I came upon a bathroom, it was relatively clean and there was a mirror. I walked up to it, taking slow movements toward the mirror on the wall because I was really starting to second guess this choice. What will I look like? Decade or... Once I looked into that mirror I let out an inhuman screech that echoed throughout the forest for miles.


	5. Surprise

It just stood there, in the doorway. No emotion on it’s face, narrow blue eyes, a frown forming at it’s mouth. Raven black hair, well muscular form just standing there… not moving, looking like it was just a statue.

“What… the… hell?!”Nick whispered in hopes of not to anger that thing in his room.

“... I think it’s sniffing the air...” The trio stood there, looking at what stood before them. It’s piercing blue eyes shifting around the room as if it was looking for something and then it’s eyes fell on Carl and it’s pupils became dilated. ‘What is this thing?’Nick thought.

The infected moved so swiftly for the human eye that before anyone could blink the infected had Carl by the throat hanging lifeless, swaying from side to side as the infected looked at Rochelle and Nick. After what seemed like forever of the stare game between the infected, Rochelle and Nick, it backed out the doorway, dropping Carl’s corpse like it was trash and turning on it’s heel , bolting down the hall way in which it must have come from.

Rochelle placed a hand over her chest and tried to slow her breathing. She had no idea what to think of what happened, Carl was dead and most likely the other soldiers were to. There was no way they survived against that thing if it could kill Carl like it was a walk in the park.

“We need to move Rochelle.” Nick spoke, breaking the thick silence that seemed to go on forever.

“What’s wrong?”

“This place isn’t safe anymore.” With that answer Nick walked out the room and started down the hallway, opposite the direction of the infected. Rochelle was close behind.

“Nick what are we going to do?”

“Get the other’s and get the hell out of here...” Nick said. Rochelle sighed and placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder in order to stop him.

“Nick… even if that thing is… you know… I don’t think….”

“Rochelle don’t… just don’t...” Nick mumbled before slightly pushing off Rochelle’s hand and walking away, Rochelle still close behind.

 _‘I have to keep an Eye on him… he could get himself hurt.’_ Was Rochelle’s last thought before her and Nick exited the hallway and into a staircase.


	6. On The Road Again

The group found themselves outside again. Out in the open and in danger all over again, back to surviving, scavenging around… back to square one.

Back at the base Nick and Rochelle had managed to find Coach, Francis, Zoey, and Louis. Nick also had the luck of finding the supply room where he was able to give his teammates the weapons and other supplies such as Medkit. Nick carried the bag of spare weapons and melee weapons and other supplies as the group treked through an unknown area in which Louis had said was a forest.

“We should find somewhere to rest for the night. I think we made enough distance between the base and us by now.” Louis spoke up. Honestly, he had been feeling weird all night. he was woken up by Rochelle and Nick who had claimed that the base was now breeched by infected and that they needed to hurry if they wanted to get out alive. Louis had thought the whole thing was a bluff, that is until he saw outside his window. People getting eaten, ripped apart, strangled, or smashed by an occasional tank. The sight was gruesome.

“Yeah, enough distance between the base but not enough between that thing.” Now Rochelle had spoken up. Louis still didn’t believe Rochelle nor Nick on what he was told about earlier. About a skinless infected, with narrow blue eyes, a frown on it’s face and thundering footsteps. Ro said that it killed Carl with one hand to Carl’s neck but Nick was capable of killing a man with one hand and Nick never liked Carl in the first place, not after what Carl did to Nick’s lover. Even if there is a new infected around, the idea of it just leaving Nick and Rochelle alive when they were vulnerable is just unbelieveable.

“So you still sticking to that little white lie you and Nick came up with to cover Carl’s death then?” Francis asked. He was curious because he believes that Nick killed Carl and came up with a dumb idea of a story to cover it up. Honestly, he wants someone to go against his logic.

“Well maybe if you were there you would believe us.”

“Well Ro, That’s the thing we weren’t there so care to enlighten us?”

“Yeah… that thing is dangerous to all of us and i'll be happy to see you try and kill it.” Rochelle has had enough of them making her seem like a liar, if they saw what she and Nick saw they would be shitting their pants.

Few Hours Later…

Nick swore he heard it. The thundering footsteps coming closer and closer just like… the hallway.

“Oh no...” Rochelle heard Nick’s little whisper but she couldn’t put a finger as to why he sounded so… scared?

“Nick… what’s wrong...”

“He followed us?!” Rochelle’s eyes widened at the realisation as to what Nick was referring to. Ellis followed them?!

“Who followed us?!” Louis asked

However, before Nick could answer the group was interrupted by an explosion, fire illuminating the night sky. A figure, seemingly on fire burst out the flame. Running toward the group at an extremely terrifying speed. The flames then died down on the body, due to the air. At this the thing slowed it’s pace before making a sharp turn into the depths of the forest. Thundering footsteps echoing in it’s wake.

”Fuck!” Nick shouted before bolting after the thing. He wasn’t thinking he just wanted to make sure if what Rochelle said earlier was true.

Nick was a very good runner back in his day, but damn that thing was just too fast. Nick was able to catch up to the thing but was still too far away to see it’s face. Then some army vehicles came into view. Tanks, hummers and others came after the infected making the realisation that maybe this thing wasn’t following them but running away from the army. _Their chasing this thing?_ Nick thought.

The infected seemed to notice the men because it turned it’s head to glare at them with hollow eyes. It was still running fast as hell while looking at them. Nick knew that soon he was going to have to stop and breathe but he really wanted to see…

He felt a tug at his shirt collar. He looked up to see that Francis was helping him up into one of the hummers. Nick looked to see that one of the soldiers were driving. ‘Fuck that.’

“Lemme drive.”

“Sir please take a seat and stay calm.” The young soldier said, trying to reason with Nick but Nick shook his head, he wasn’t having any of that.

“NOW!” At his demanding voice the young soldier nodded. Him and Nick switch places with Nick driving and the soldier looking over his shoulder.

“Nick what do you plan on doing?”

“Nothing Rochelle just be quiet and let me do this...”

“Do what?!”

“Just shut up!” The vehicle became quiet until there was another explosion. Right next the their vehicle.

“Shit!”

As Ellis changed his direction and pivoted toward the army vehicles, he ignored the bullets invading his body he just knew one thing and that was **KILL. KILL THEM ALL!**

 


	7. BloodRain

Blood... it was everywhere, as far as the eye can see. There was so much blood that it saturated the ground, puddle's and puddle's of blood that would make even the most psychotic killers nauseated. Limbs and bones lay scattered around amongst the ground. Flames engulfed the vehicles of the soldier's that once were alive chasing him. He stood there, in the middle of it all, looking at the aftermath of his wrath that had caused all this blood to rain amongst the once beautiful rain forest. He stared ahead at the flames, the beautiful red, orange and yellow that bring life to the night. The bright colors reflecting in his piercing hollow eyes.

His unblinking eyes grasped the movement on his right side. The branches snapped beneath his feet as he walked toward a human that had survived his rage. The squelch sound that followed his footsteps brought the human out of it's semi-conscious self. He grabbed the human before it could attempt to escape and brought it close to his face, said human looked as if it was looking into the eyes of lucifer himself.  They squirmed and writhed around, trying to escape his death grip on it's collar. The human's attempt proved to be futile due to it's weak state.

"Louis!" A voice? So he left some alive huh? He turned his attention to the other humans behind him. Looking at them with emotionless eyes. These humans had fear etched all over their faces, looking upon him like he was the bad guy.

"Shit! What do we do?" Lighter voice... maybe female?

"He isn't killing him... nows our chance to take this thing down!" 

"No!.. you know what this thing is capable of... we can't attack him... not yet." _These human's plan on hurting me?_

"... Don't hurt him..." He turned his attention to another human. That voice... it sounded so... familiar... what? 

"Nick, it's not him anymore..."

"You don't know that Rochelle!"

"Yes I do! The Ellis we all knew wouldn't kill an innocent person unless they threatened us! You out of all of us know that!"

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe these soldier's were threatening him! He didn't do this on purpose!"

He continued to stare at the angry humans. _Why are they arguing_? he thought as he looked down at the human in his grasp, a.k.a Louis who seemed in the same state of rear and shock.

"That's up for debate Nick, are you really going to defend a infected!" He was getting bored.

Before Nick good answer Rochelle, a body came colliding with him and Rochelle. All three humans fell to the floor while the infected took his chance to bolt into the flaming tree's where the human's heard his fading thundering footsteps.

"Ellis..."


	8. shelter

Shit… that was creepy. I’ve never in my whole life ever look into such hollow eyes before. They were emotionless, unwavering and unblinking. Watchful to our every move, making me feel as if I was under a microscope. Those  familiar blue eyes made me want to cower and hide away from that piercing glare. They made me feel as if they were looking into my soul and I hated that. Mesmerised that those eyes had the ability to make you feel so small and weak but drew you in at the same time with their blue color. The gaze was unnerving and sent chills up my spine every time it seemed to point it’s gaze at me.

The thing chose to leave us when the gunshots were heard few miles away. It ran in the opposite direction and that’s when I decided that it was time to find shelter for the night.

Few Hours Later-

The others and I managed to come across an old abandoned warehouse. Me, Francis, and Zoey cleared out the place of any lingering infected, Rochelle standing guard for Coach who had a broken arm and Louis who had a badly bruised neck. I could tell that they were exhausted, who wouldn’t be after that fight with that thing then it just about killing Louis. I took a seat next to a window, taking a minute to relax as Rochelle took care of Coach’s injury. Zoey was doing the same with Louis, I envied them both. They still had each other, They were still able to fight side by side and hold each other at night, they were able to give comfort to one another and were able to motivate each other to live another day. I had that, Ellis was my everything and it was taken from me. Ellis held me when I needed a solid ground to get back on my feet, he calmed me down when I went ballistic in anger. Ellis massaged me when my body ached, he treated me like a normal human being despite my past of robbing, conning and being a heartbreaker. He loved me, though he was scared to confess at first because of the way I treated him but I confessed first. I told him how much he meant to me and that it upsets me when he did something stupid, I told him that I didn’t know how to express this love but that I would try my best.

That night, when I confessed, I made love to him. Ellis was the reason I stood with this group, he was the reason I even kept trying to survive because I had given up a long time ago but he helped me see that there was a reason worth trying, there was a reason to fight and that same reason was taken away from me. I don’t know why i’m even trying anymore.

The others settled comfortably into their separate places. But I couldn’t sleep, I wasn’t comfortable because he wasn’t here. Ellis was out there somewhere, probably killing anything and everything that tried to stop him. Then I heard someone clear their throat behind me, I looked over to see that Rochelle was there.

“What do you want Rochelle?”

“Nick about earlier…. What in the hell were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?”

“Rochelle i’m not talking about this with you.”

“Oh yes we are going to talk about this because you could’ve gotten yourself killed. Louis could’ve died.”

“I am aware of this Rochelle, I just wanted to see for myself what Ellis really was.”

“Nick if you keep making these dumb decisions then...”

“I KNOW!” I really wasn’t in the mood to talk about this shit with her. She just doesn’t know.

“And yet we’re still having this argument, whether Ellis is the same or not is up for debate Nick.”

“You’re right Rochelle, this is up for debate because he could’ve killed Louis back there yet he didn’t. What stopped him huh? Exactly… nothing stopped him from stomping Louis’s head to bits, he stopped himself! I’m not giving up on Ellis like you and everyone else seem to be doing.”  I got up from my seat, only to stop when Rochelle placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked at her, honestly who does she think she is?

“Nick… i’m not saying that i’m giving up on him, i’m just saying...”

“Whatever.” I cut her off, shrugging her hand off my shoulder and moving to another isolated room.

I hear footsteps, don’t even know who’s they belong to. Probably Ellis’s, maybe he came back to kill us after all. I looked out the little small window that was on the other side of the room, the darkness of the room makes the trek over to the window even longer than it should seem. I stare at the stars, one star in particular. For some reason it reminded me of Ellis, it was bright just like his smile. His smile could brighten anyone’s day. It twinkled just like Ellis’s eyes.  

I felt a painful twinge in my heart, I felt tears prickle at the corner of my eyes. Images flash in my mind, torturing me of memories that showed me and Ellis together, fighting side by side, holding each other or even laughing when we used to keep guard at night in those safe houses.

This was going to be the end of me.


	9. Old Enemies

Fuck I forgot how fucking annoying these things were! I thought as the Tank threw another punch at me

If I hadn’t ducked in time, that behemoth would’ve hit me square in the face. I side stepped to my right as the Tank threw right armed punch at me. What I didn’t see was the left punch coming at me, before I could think of a counter attack, the punch hit my stomach, throwing me off my feet. Fuck! was my exact thoughts as the tank charged at me. At this moment, I was slumped against a thick tree, breathing hard and shivering from the pain of my body healing on it’s own, smoke emitting from the wounds.

How I ended up in this situation? I cannot tell you because all I remember was jogging through the forest, deep in my own thoughts when I bumped into a Tank wandering through these thick ass tree’s. Literally bumped into this dumb Tank. Now i’m slumped against a fucking thick ass tree, about to be pummeled to a bloody pulp because this dumb ass tank don’t know the fucking difference between humans and  his own kind, oh and HELLZ YEAH I’M PISSED!

The Tank threw another punch, aiming right for my head ‘If only this fucking dumb ass knew’ I thought as I narrowly dodged the attack. This time I saw what the wretched thing was going to do next and with no seconds to spare I brought my left foot slightly inward before lifting my right leg high. I felt the wind flow as strongly with my leg as it collided with the Tank’s body.

I watched the body fall to the floor with a thud. I watched with a stoic expression, the blood flow out the severe wound. Blood had also splattered on the trees from my physical attack. I placed my leg back onto the ground, a little shocked at the stable force of my blow. The impact was enough to stun the monstrous infected, before it could even know what I was about to do next I had swung my arm, the diamond like substance covering my skinless arm as it collided with the Tank's body. The diamond like armor was sharp enough to slice through the leather pink flesh, I had sliced the Tank in half with just a diamond covered arm… Wow.

I looked down at the now split in half corpse, it was marvelous to see such a strong thing fall to the hands of another stronger predator. Wait… am I the new predator around here? Every Time something threatened me… it was as if my sane self disappeared behind my animalistic armor and my instinct took over me… my blood cravings took over my mind, making me feel like I was sleepwalking and having some bad dream. It was as if my mind was possessed with the thought of shedding more blood on the ground.

I shook my head, removing those thoughts from my head as I turned on my heel and continued to wander into the forest.  My last thought was about the weird but similar humans that I had met earlier that night… my mind wandered to those green eyes that seemed to shoot familiarity into my own lifeless eyes… my mind wandered to Nick. Who was Nick anyway? I was determined to find out since I had nothing better to do.

 

 


	10. Alone

It was already getting bright out. The sun making indigo turn into purple as the sun rises higher into the sky. Heavy footsteps could be heard throughout the forest. Fallen leaves flew into the air by the whooshing wind was created by the infected who passed on by. Loose pebbles bounced from the shear force of it’s heavy footsteps. The one responsible for these things was wandering around in a jog like pace. It wandered and wandered around aimlessly.

As the sky grew brighter, the infected still couldn’t get a grip on the scent it was looking for. Sure, it smelled deer, racoons, beavers, rabbits and other animals as well as plants but couldn’t get one grip on that human scent. Ellis had backtracked where he came from to see if that would get him anywhere. He passed by the Tank’s corpse, passed by that area where he had run into a small horde of infected (which had run the other way as soon as they saw him.) Now he was sniffing the area where the ground was still saturated with human blood and human carcasses. He walked around slowly, sniffing the air rapidly.

Though the scent of blood and decay was strong, his nose caught a whiff of that human’s scent however faint. The scent was intoxicating to say the least. It brought a sense of relief and safety… a vision of another life before this one. As his pupils blew wide and pleasure shot through his veins, he bolted after the faint scent. Running at full speed, wind whooshing past him as he bolted forward. Leaves flew into the air, rocked rapidly bounced and heavy footsteps echoed throughout the quiet forest.

Soon enough, the scent grew stronger, his pleasure increased as he looked upon where this exotic scent has led him. He appeared to have happened upon an abandoned warehouse, where that human’s scent was as strong as ever.

He was hiding behind a thick tree, where his pupil’s were still blown wide and his mouth started to water. Why haven’t I smelled this scent before? Was I too caught up in my own business to realise how intoxicating this scent was? That’s absurd. Just as he was thinking this, those humans from last night came out the house. They looked well rested… except for one and that was… Nick!

He had bags under his eyes and his eyes were a little red. Is he turning? Even though the urge to come out from his hiding spot was almost unbearable, he knew that he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t show himself because of what he was and what they are. For some reason… this though hurt more that what it was suppose to.

“I don’t think it’s out here… maybe it sleeps during the day and kills at night?” That female voice is oddly familiar.

“Who knows… maybe it’s hiding behind one of these trees waiting for one of use to fall behind to kills us.” At this comment, Ellis pressed himself closer to the tree Did they see me?

“If it could take soldiers, tanks and guns without breaking a sweat or taking a breather then i’m pretty sure it could kill us all if it wanted to. ALL of us.”

“Whatever… maybe you should fall behind.”

“Boys! Enough!” The humans continued their trek to the opposite side of the area. Leaving Ellis by himself pressed against the tree. Just before all the humans could leave the area, Nick had turned around and stared right into the eyes of Ellis. Both seemed wide eyed as the two stared at each other. Just as Nick turned quickly to catch up with his group, memories of another life filled Ellis mind.

“Nick…”

 


	11. Encounter's

Shit… that was creepy. It was like looking into a portal to another dimension. The blue hues looking straight into mine as I stared right back. In my defense, I couldn’t move due to the shock I was in. What would you feel if the minute you turn around you see a skinless…. thing looking at you from behind the trees? I could barely see it’s body due to the shadows darkening. The most that I saw was it’s piercing blue eyes, wide and unblinking and it scared the living hell out of me.

I was quick to recover from my shock and sprinted to catch up to my team. They seemed to have not noticed my abstinence so that’s good, no need to explain that weird shit that happened just moments ago.

“Nick… where were you?” Well shit.

“I was just smoking Rochelle, no need to be keeping tabs on me.”

“Yes there is a need because knowing you, you’ll take the next chance you get to leave us.”

“Then you don’t know me.”

“Guys please. Let’s not argue now.” *Sighs* Louis… always the optimist…. reminds me of him.

“Yeah… let's not argue. Atleast not right now because we could draw almost every infected out her. Including that new one.”   _‘Fuck you Francis!’_ was my only thought going through my head as he spoke. It repeated over and over… like a mantra.

“Coach”

“Yeah..”

“You alright buddy?”

“Yeah. Took some pills to numb the pain in my arm… so I should be fine for a few hours. ”

I nod as I keep walking along side Coach. He seems to know that something is bothering me so he speaks in a lower voice.

“What’s bothering you son?”

“Nothing much but the ordinary.”

“You sure?”

I nodded as I continued to walk beside Coach. Honestly, it was kind of hard not to tell someone like Coach what’s bothering me. Ever since Ellis got me open enough to talk about what’s bothering more freely I now find it hard to hold everything inside.

**Few Hours Later…**

It was faint but I heard it. That unmistakeable sound of heavy footsteps thundering throughout the forest would never go unheard, not by my ears. It wasn’t very loud but it was enough to have my blood run cold and make all my senses run on high alert. It was enough to make my fear bubble deep within my blood and fill my mind with theories and questions. _Why was it here? Is it following us? Is it hunting us? What does it plan on doing? What was it doing staring at me earlier? Is it hiding from something? Something bigger perhaps?_ All these questions were running through my head as the footsteps grew louder. I Secretly wondered if the others could hear it too. _Do They hear those echoing thumps?_

 

Suddenly a figure burst out the forest walls. Running before us, breathing heavily and almost stumbling over it’s own feet. It was a human…. a women to be exact and she had fallen to the ground in a heap of deprived oxygen. Rochelle rushed toward the girl, kneeling down to inspect her for injuries. Rochelle then reached into her backpack to fetch some water and gave it to the still dehydrated girl.

“There, there… what’s your name?”

“M-Ma… Mary...” Rochelle nodded as she continued to inspect the women for any severe injuries. While this was happening, I realised something. Something that made my blood run 10 times colder… this is going to fucking kill me.

I turned around and what I saw made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. No wonder the footsteps stopped, he was already there….

“Um… Guys?... It’s here!” Just as I say this my team turns around to look upon the thing that stands before them. Now that it was daylight I could really get a good look at what Ellis turned into. It was enough to make bile rise into my throat. I looked upon it’s skinless body, his muscles bulging and a mixture of pink and red. His face, hollow and emotionless. His eyes piercing and unforgivable. The shiny seemingly armor protecting his mouth area, along with the joints on both arms and legs and the hard substance was also covering his heels on the back of his feet. More questions flooded my mind as I continued to stare at the emotionless statue.  

“Nick… do something!”

“What the fuck do you expect me to do Francis?!”

As soon as I raised my voice I soon regretted it because Ellis had flinched, cracking his neck to the side and then stood still again. Looking at us from the corner of his eyes like that made me shiver.

Time seemed to go on forever until Ellis turned on his heels with his back to us. He had begun to walk away when fucking Mary had to wail like a baby because she finally noticed that her impending doom had come upon her. Worse timing ever… bitch!

The baby like wail seemed to catch his attention because he looked back at us from over his shoulder. I could’ve sworn that amusement had flashed through his eyes however faint before he swiftly charged at us… at a truly horrifying speed.

**_We’re doomed._ **


	12. Onslaught

Damn these fucking humans! Damn them for protecting a woman who is nothing but a nuisance to everyone. **_To me!_** My mind yells as I throw another punch at an unfamiliar human. They managed to duck out the way, losing their footing in the process. I wasn’t doing my best to kill them, something was holding me back from charging at them without mercy… _someone_ was holding me back. That same pleasurable feeling was coursing through my body as I attack the human pack protecting that wretched woman. That same scent filled my nostrils, but along with that scent came a mix of masculine and _Fear._ **_Nick feared me?_** Not that I know who Nick is to me but the thought of him fearing me kinda hurt. I hadn’t felt pain since… since…  I don’t even know when. I don’t know how long it’s been since I felt pain but this pain was so intense that it made me recoil from my attack. I collapsed on one knee, holding my chest and my breathing was shallow and strained as I try to calm my breathing. The pain was spreading through my body like a wildfire, washing through my veins like a stream. It burned everywhere, I couldn’t tell where the pain was anymore because it burned in every ounce of my body. 

“Gotcha mother fucker!” Came a shout before me. I look up, only to see a barrel of a magnum pointed at me. The human pulled the trigger but before the bullet could shoot through my brain, a diamond like substance shields my head from the bullet. The shield was hard enough to prevent the bullet from killing me, the bullet bounced off my shield once it came into contact. The stray bullet now shot back at the man who had fired it, shooting through his shoulder. The man fell to the ground, holding his injured shoulder as I tried to subdue the burning sensation for now so I could get away. However, a sound stopped my hastily movements to get up. The sound of my supposed name being called out in a shout of despair and anger. How humans managed to combine more than one emotion  in their voice? I cannot say but it’s fascinating and aggravating.  _ Maybe that’s how they did it?   _

I looked back, cold eyes staring back at the man who had called my name. Green looked back at blue hues, time seeming to stop as we stared at each other. Neither of us moving, afraid that the moment would be broken and everything would go back to the way it was. The inevitable happened however, when images of a life I wasn’t familiar with intruded my mind. Image after image showing me a man with a tow truck hat and blue eyes. A man with a yellow shirt and deep blue coveralls. It showed me how this young man progressed as a mechanic in a dirt road town and how he adapted into a survivor when the virus broke out into public. On how this man struggled in the depths of odds that were against him and his team. How this man found love in a world full of death and the stench of decay. 

The images didn’t stop its onslaught as Nick called my name again. The sound seemed far away, miles away but we were only a few feet from each other. He stared at me but even though it seemed that I was staring back, I wasn’t however, my sight was blinded by a unknown force.  _ I was blind. _

 


	13. End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, there will be a part two to this story if enough people ask for it. Until then goodbye and thank you for reading this story till the end

Me and the others were able to get to a safe place. The journey was hard of course but when isn’t something hard? Anyway, Rochelle and Francis hit it off while we headed here. Like I had said, I knew there was something there between them. Zoey and Louis stood together, but within the journey and a very close encounter with Ellis they decided to leave. They separated after Ellis almost crushed Zoey’s chest in. However, in my opinion those two were the guilty ones to set Ellis off. 

The group was heading down a dirt road with me and Coach leading them when out of nowhere we hear screams and the sound of people running. The unmistakeable sound of thundering footsteps was following close behind. After we fought him off…. well more like me, Coach and Francis had fought Ellis off. After that, I learned that Louis and Zoey and sneaked off from the group to find the thing because they were scared. The panic caused them to run into Ellis himself and the said that as they slashed at his arms and legs to weaken him, he had stood there looking at them like ‘ _ Is that the best you can do? _ ’ However, they didn’t know that Ellis was giving them a silent warning to stop. When they didn’t he attacked which caused my assumption that Ellis only attacks when threatened true. After a while of bobbing and weaving, Ellis had gotten bored and left without another sound except his footsteps.

I can only hope that those two lovebirds are okay… and not dead somewhere. I can only hope that they learned their lesson and didn’t attack Ellis for a second time. As for me… well I can lie and say that i’m over the loss of Ellis but honestly i’m far from getting over that. He was everything to me and now he is gone, leaving a big hole in my soul and a broken heart in it’s wake.

And for Ellis… well I can’t say where he is but… I would like to think that he is watching me. If the echos of the heavy footsteps are anything to go by. I just hope he’s okay… even though he isn’t the same. 

_ No matter where you are I’ll find you. _

_ No matter what you are I still love you… Nick. _

This was what I heard one night at this camp. I heard the echo of a voice. A voice that sounded so sweet and so southern. All I could do was hum in response, thinking that I had gone crazy from all the memories and nightmares I have everyday. 

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate critique and suggestions. I also take requests for future chapters. Please feel free to leave mean comments or as I call them hater comments. But be aware that I may respond though its highly unlikely since hater comments dont even deserve replies but everyone is entitled to their opinions. Please leaves kudos and comments but that is completely optional.


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